Two photos of hotel

Photo of the beach

Photo of our room

Another vacation over

After a last night of watching the Mexican dancers again at our hotel (same show as at the other Wyndham but better at our hotel because of the smaller theatre) we spent the morning on the beach.

Pick up from the hotel was at 12:30 and while the airport was crazy all went  well. We arrived at YEG at about 830 PM and were home shortly after 10 PM

Thursday night

I seemed to have lost my premium wi-fi so am now using the free Wi-Fi in the lobby garden.

Caro and I spent the afternoon at the beach enjoying dips in the ocean (more her than me!) Plus a walk down the beach.

The supper meal was at the Mediterranean restaurant at the other Wyndham but truthfully it was Italian. It was the best meal of the week!   Love,love ,love Italian food!!!

Our hotel has Mexican dancers tonight for the entertainment and we suspect it is the same program we saw a couple of nights ago at the Wyndham Maya( where we had supper tonight).

I imagine we will enjoy it as much as last time.

Nice tips for room cleaners

.......can mean nice towel animals on your bed.  Beautiful!!!

Thursday

Yesterday afternoon we finally got our catamaran ride. It was disappointing for me as it was too short and the hotel staff piloting these cats must be under instructions to be overly careful.  Boring.....

At night we went to the Mexican restaurant at the other Wyndham. The food and atmosphere there was amazing. We really enjoyed ourselves and the food was awesome.

Today,after a great sleep last night we are spending the day at the beach. Caro is reading or at a fitness class and I am enjoying some Utube videos. The day is quite windy and not as warm as earlier in the week but still very enjoyable.

I snuck a peak at the weather back home and have changed my mind to say that the weather  here is AWESOME!!!

We have been enjoying the agouti's (OK I have been enjoying these animals,Caro thinks they look like rats). We have also seen raccoon's and many beautiful small birds.

Photo of hector and Mirna

A great time with the two of them

Wednesday on the beach.

Last night we went to the other Wyndham resort for the Mexican buffet. The food was simply OK. After checking out the menu at the Mexican a la carte menu for tonight (we have reservations) we waited around for stage show (we were still at the other Wyndham resort). The show was real Mexican traditional  dancing and we loved it!

Today Hector and Mirna are here (and were greeted by Angel,the reception boss- this all because of the screwup the first night).After that a  huge breakfast for Hector. He is making up for the fact that when he was at the all inclusive with Lisa he didn't realize that food was included. Lisa ,we are going to make him eat ALL day long😀

I put on my shirt

......because the sign said to!!!

Later tuesday afternoon

Well the wind is negligible so no catamaran sailing today. 

While watching the world go by the little fellow ( a ghouti) came around. Cute little guy (but Caro thinks he looks like a rat).

Tonight we are going to the other Wyndham resort (10 minute walk) to have Mexican buffet.

Photo at Playa del Carmen

Tuesday afternoon at the beach

This morning we were finished breakfast by 0900 at which  time we made a reservation for a catamaran sail at 1630. We also confirmed with our new buddy Angel at the reservation desk that Hector and Mirna are OK for tomorrow here (we cover only a small amount of their cost due to the hotel screw up on our first night).

Caro always likes to go bike riding so today was the day. Unfortunately the bikes here are the old style pedal brake which Caro is not used to. We tried riding but decided after one hour it was better to just walk so off we went.

We walked to Fifth avenue and were immediately assaulted by hard core salesmen which I HATE (although Caro just says "this is Mexico"). We walked and walked and walked and at some point stopped for refreshments and chips with guacamole.

We made our way to a Michoacan  ice cream place and Caro had TWO paletas  .  .......Gorda.       Ha ha.

By now Caro is killing her husband by making him walk bazillions of kilometers so he (the husband) gently suggested it was time to head back.😎l

We are presently lying on beach loungers listening to a bird with serious attitude issues.  Very interesting listening to all the sounds  he makes!

Swimming in cenote

Chichen itza photo

Chichen Itza

Hector picked us up in the morning and we drove to Chichen Itza (about 2 hours). We were last there on our honeymoon 33 years ago and it was the first time for Hector. While I was bending over to pick up something at the trunk of the car I had a "wardrobe malfunction" when my cutoffs blew out the rivet holding the halfs together above the zipper.😵😵😱😱 Ha ha. I spent the next two hours making sure I had no accidental butt views!!!

Chichen Itza was incredible and we were happy to pay for the tour guide.

After that we went to swim underground  in a couple of cenotes near the city of Valladolid. Wow that was refreshing.

Supper was at a recommended restaurant at the zocalo in Valladolid. Mmmmm

We were back to our hotel shortly after 10 PM feeling ready for bed.

A photo of Hector and Mirna

Third day (Sunday)

Hector picked us up at 0900 and we went to Puerto Morales to pick up Mirna and then to show us his new house. The house is tiny but it is clear that he has made a nice home there.

We went to Puerto Morales beach and after a nice walk we sat down in a beach side restaurant and proceeded to spend the next three hours eating fantastic Mexican seafood. I tried many different foods and had a real Mexican coke from a bottle.Mmmmmmm.

They drove us up to Cancun and we drove the hotel strip. I am happy we are here instead of there. The hotels are massive.

Caro last night

Finally able to upload  a photo

Wildlife

On site at the hotel

Trying another photo

Strangely I can take a photo and send it immediately  but can't use a photo I took earlier

Photo

Saturday afternoon

We now have premier internet service because of last night's cave like windowless room and have moved to our new,much nicer room.  The boss of the reception area is being very accommodating to us in lieu of last night.It turns out there were about 5 rooms overbooked. We did not create a  huge stink but instead were very understanding and accepting. I of course mentioned the issue to SunWing and also mentioned that I had thousands of review reads  on Trip Advisor which is probably helping us get more perks!!
  As I write this I am lazing around on a beach lounger, under a palm tree at the beach,and Caro is doing Zumba with a dozen other ladies. She has already ran the streets for an hour and had walked the beach for an hour. I have not!

Second day at Viva Wyndham Azteca

Well we got here Ok in late afternoon after a good flight. Our hotel appears to be overbooked so we were given a tiny windowless room for the night with the promise of compensation today. They said last night we will get $100 today. Hmmm. Not enough,so we have also asked for a room with a great view,no cost  safe and premium internet. We will see.  Anyway SunWing will be notified and the fact that my reviews on Trip Advisor have been read over 28,000 times will help ,I hope!!

Playa del Carmen

Arrived yesterday. Very slow internet.

A cell phone attempt to upload

Trying cell after hard reboot

Gold medal

It was great to see Lisa's Team Alberta win over Team First Nations in the gold medal game of the Canadian Box Lacrosse Senior Ladies Championship game in Calgary.

Charlie and Pat Tuckey came to watch the game as well.

This is about the fifth attempt to get this blog post to upload and I have reverted to the tablet rather than use the cell phone.

In Calgary

After a pleasant night in the hotel we headed over to Max Bell Arena and watched Lisa's two games today.

Lisa scored a goal in the second game so that was nice to see.

After her second game ended we went to Charlie and Pat's place. Charlie has purchased a huge screen TV and sound system.Oh Wow!!!!!

After that we went out for a meal at a very nice Mexican restaurant in a very chic part of town called Inglewood.  A wonderful evening  tonight.

I am writing this post on my cell phone to see how it goes.

In Calgary

We left the Seniors' place this morning  and headed towards Calgary. We stopped at Golden to buy food for a picnic but both food stores in town were included in a power blackout so we bought some junk food elsewhere and carried on.

In Yoho National Park we went to Emerald Lake where we proceeded to hike around the lake (a distance of 5 km.). After that we fought the hoards of  bussed in Japanese tourists to get a view of Natural Bridge waterfall. Both the lake and the falls are nice and it is the first time we had been there.

We arrived in Calgary about 7 PM.After a quick meal at Sunridge Mall food court we went to our hotel, checked in, spent some time in the hot tub then came up to the room.

And ANOTHER change of plans

We were awake this morning and were enjoying our breakfast when Caro phoned our friends Jim and Glenda Senior in Sicamous to see if they were home. They were, and invited us over so we headed east instead of north,intending to have a short visit then carry on home. However, soon after arrival we  were invited to spend the day and evening with them so plans got changed again!

The  afternoon was spent on the Shuswap Lake in their boat.OMG...

A photo below is of a native pictogram located on the lake.

After a evening BBQ and adult beverages we shut it down at midnight. A wonderful day with great people.

Another change in plans

We left Cowichan Bay this morning and caught the 11 AM ferry at Victoria for Vancouver. The ferry takes the same route as our zodiac whale watching tour on Sunday but we didn't see any Orcas this time.

We landed at Tsawwassen and drove to White Rock anticipating an overnighter there, While we enjoyed the boardwalk and walking the main street there just wasn't enough to keep us there so we decided to head home.

Tonight we are in Kamloops  after another gorgeous day drving. Love the Coquihalla at 120 K/hr!

A bowl of chowder at Joey's Only and that is it for tonight. A long day tomorrow.

A extra night in Cowichan

We got up this morning anticating leaving but couldn't bring ourselves to actually pull the trigger!  It was too beautiful as we sat out on our veranda looking out over the water. We booked another night here (different room) and then left for the day.

We stopped in Duncan to shop and fill up the vehicle then proceeded to Chemainus to see the murals on the buildings. We then carried on to the Cowichan Provincial Park to eat a picnic meal followed by hiking. We got the meal finished but very little hiking done as a tremendous lightening rain storm hit the area. We tried waiting  it out but it kept raining so we went back to the coast.

After a look-see trip to Mill Bay we came back to Cowichan for some hiking at the river estuary (photos below).

Finally we had a late supper at our favourite pub; The CowCafe.. Fabulous food and service. Our waitress, Ali, was always great.

Tonight we are sitting outside looking out over a sun drenched bay, oh so nice!  Hate to leave but Calgary awaits!

More photos

Orcas!!

Well today we hit the jackpot!

Susan took us for a walk in the morning through the private school grounds near her house. Wow!

At 11:30 we were at the whale tour location and by noon we were outfitted in survival gear and in a zodiac skimming across the ocean. We wound our way through the gulf islands and ended up across from Point Roberts Washington state where the "J" pod of resident Orcas were feeding. Oh WOW.We spent about 90 minutes following some of the pod members feed,jump and flip over. Oh boy talk about great!

I got some good photos and the zodiac captain was taking  professional photos which will be available to us in a few days.

After spending all afternoon on the water we came back to town about  5 and were soon at the same pub as yesterday enjoying beers snd great pub food.

Later Murray and Susan came to meet us and we went back the same pub for a drink. Great conversation with great people!

Good Day,Bad mistake,change of plans

We left Nanaimo at about 9:30 heading to cousin Susan's place in Shawnigan Lake. After arriving there I went on line to get tonight's place in Victoria. I went to Trivago, put in todays date, found a good looking deal so clicked through to Expedia to book it (which I did). Only after completing the process did I realize Expedia had a default date of Aug 7th in their website. Sigh...non refundable... I tried to get it reversed but the hotel in Victoria refused so I will eat that cost (or get someone else to use it).DAMNNN. no more Comfort Inns in my future : (     BASTARDS

Susan, Isaac, Caro and I went hiking at the Kinsol Trestle, a nice hike to a nice location.

We decided to spend the night at Susan's and we left in early afternoon as she had plans for the day. Caro and I went to Cowichan to enjoy the town and discuss what our upcoming plans are.

We had beer and starters at a beautiful pub overlooking the bay and as we walked up the street we noticed a tour company having a whale watching tour tomorrow at noon ( they are seeing Orcas everyday).  Well that changes plans entirely!! We are booked for noon tomorrow,  will eat supper at the pub and we have booked a room for a hotel in Cowichan for the night. On Monday morning we are catching the ferry at Victoria to Vancouver where we will spending the day in and around White Rock . No Seattle in this trip.

We were back to Susan's for supper , this time including Ben (Murray is out of town this weekend so too bad)

Parksville, Friday afternoon

We are sitting on lawn chairs at Rathtrevor Beach in Parksville and have a couple of hours to enjoy the sunshine and light breeze as we listen to all the kids enjoying this  beautiful place.

We are going to have supper at Klebes before heading to Nanaimo later tonight.

This morning we were on our way hiking by 10 AM. Ucluelet has a beautiful 2.8 km loop trail called Wild Pacific. After completing that we drove a few kilometres out of town to complete a couple more trails at Florencia Bay. The weather was not sunny but at least wasn't raining so we enjoyed all trail walks today. Caro tells me we walked 13000 steps this morning!

The weather turned sunny as we drove toeards Port Alberni. This time we drove a different way through that city and saw some modern shops and houses; a city no so run down as we felt before.

We had a great b-b-q supper with Helmut and Ruth and I am using their internet to upload this

Night two in Ucluelet

After a very comfortable sleep we got up and went to the Co-op deli/cafe where we purchased some food and ate our breakfast.

With tummies full we headed north to Long Beach where  after walking the beach for a kilometre or two we ate a picnic lunch right on the beach using our lawn chairs that we have been dragging around all this trip. Very very nice meal (purchased at the Co-op deli). Shortly after that we began working our back here to Ucluelet. 25,600 steps later (according to Caro's fit bit) we had completed both loops of the rain forest trail, the south beach trail and the bog trail. All were amazingly beautiful and awe inspiring. As  well as that we saw the Kwisitis Visitor Centre to learn more about the native tribes.

Evening saw us trying a local delicacy. Raw oysters!!  Yup in a moment of insanity we each decided to try a raw oyster. Ummm let's just say that after sliding it down my throat my thought was "OK done that;time for fish and chips",and that is what we did!

Tonight we are staying in a different motel from last night. At first glance our reaction was "oh no-we made a mistake"-we had pre-booked through Hotels.com so we had to take the room,but looks were deceiving as the room is clean. As I write this we are sitting on the veranda outside the room looking across to the town fishing marina. Kinda neat to see all the charter fishing vessels ( which is what this place caters too).

All in all another fabulous day!!

Wednesday July 13th in Ucluelet

Well another totally awesome day. We left Port Alberni sometime shortly after 8 and headed straight to Tofino. We lucked out and arrived 15 minutes before a whale watching tour took off so away we went. We were out on the ocean in a few minutes and soon spotted a small humpback. We and a half dozen other tour boats enjoyed a few glimpses but no breeching or tail shots so off we went to look at a colony of sea lions. Near the sea lions we spotted another small humpback,this one gave a bit more of a show but nothing spectacular. The captain heard on the radio that there was a humpback in a channel about 30 minutes away giving a bit more show so "away we go!". By the time we got there the whale had quieted down so we saw only a bit of it and by then we had to return to port. Oh well at least we saw something!

After that it was a fantastic meal in a highly recommended restaurant called Seafood Shanty....Mmmmmm good

Hiking, hiking and more hiking  was our activities for the remainder of the day. Caro tells me we did 16000 steps.

We ended the day in Ucluelet and have already booked another motel for tomorrow (this one is great but unavailable tomorrow)

We watched the sunset from our motel window and while the sunset itself was not that great the bald eagles  that kept flying across our fields of vision were a perfect way to end our day.

Tues July 12th in Port Alberni

We left Nanaimo at about 10:30 and proceeded to Englishman River Falls. It was a very nice walk to both the falls and we remembered taking the kids there when we visited the Klebe's all those years ago.

After that was the mandatory stop at Coombs to check out the neat general store there ( the store with goats on the roof). The store always has different cool things to see.

Next stop , Cathedral Grove, where we took the time to walk the trails on both sides of the road. Beautiful as always.

Our night stop was Port Alberni. We first got our motel, then proceeded down to the main quay. Not a whole lot happening but still nice.We had picked up a map of a hiking area called Roger's Creek Trail.  The area was tremendous;rain forest with moss covered trees but the trails were very poorly marked (there were multiple trails leading all over the place) and because it was a rain forest it was hard to tell where you were. I finally got the point of saying we better go back because it was too easy to get lost. One time I took a wrong path but Caro realized the mistake after a short while and got us straightened out.

We drove around the city for a bit (definitely a town past its' prime) before grabbing subs and  after eating heading back to the motel to veg out.

The photos below are, first Englishman River Falls and the second the forest at Port Alberni.